07/28/2014

McDonnell Trial Day 1: A long process to select 16 people

It wasn't expected to be easy, and it certainly wasn't. Judge James Spencer and the attorneys representing former Governor Bob McDonnell, his wife Maureen and the Federal Government painstakingly examined the backgrounds of 150 potential jurors to pick the best 16 people.

12 will decide the fate of the McDonnells. 4 were set to serve as alternates. One of those alternates has already been called in to duty after one of the original members of the panel was forced to step down.

The McDonnells arrived here at the federal courthouse shortly after 8:30 Monday morning. They did come separately but it appeared that was an effort to accommodate the heavy security that followed them to the court house.

Their three daughters and two son in laws were there as a family priest as well.

Inside the court room, it was a long day of sometimes monotonous questioning of the potential jurors. In some cases they had to outline if a distant family member worked in a field like law, accounting or law enforcement.

At one point the judge asked the jury pool to stand if they had seen any coverage of the McDonnell indictment to which every single person stood. He then had to go through juror by juror to determine their level of familiarity with the case.

There were some surprises today. We learned definitively that former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli was put on the witness list by the defense. Also on their witness list, former Governor L. Douglas Wilder who could be called as a character witness.

It was supposed to be wrapped up by 5:30pm but the laborious process took much longer. Judge Spencer chose to plow through with the goal of seating the jury by Monday night.

The finally wrapped up shortly before 7pm. A jury of 8 men and 4 women were selected.

Tuesday the Judge will start the day with instructions for the jury, followed by opening arguments. If they are able to speed through that process, the first witness could be called by the afternoon.